Why I Fight For You
by Leopards
Summary: Leslie knows she has feelings for Jess. But will she be able to tell him in time?
1. Chapter 1

This is a one-shot story based off the 1970s Book and 2007 Movie of Bridge to Terabithia.

I own none of the characters, names, locations or places.

I will be focusing mostly on Leslie's POV or Point Of View, starting from the time Jess last sees her before the accident.

Although this is a one-shot, I hope that many of you will review it anyway.

Chapter 1

Leslie's POV -

I walked on ahead with P.T, looking back at Jesse Aarons. The mud harshly squished under my boots as I walked on towards my house. "See you!" I yelled.

I giggled slightly as P.T ran beside me, enjoying his company.

The front door of my house opened with Judy waving at me. "Come on in honey!"

Cool droplets of rain slowly slid down my blonde hair and onto my face and neck. This previously had startled me but now it was satisfying compaired to the recent warm spring air that I was use to.

My stomach growled encouraging me to walk faster. I stepped up onto the small sized wooden porch and into the house.

I found myself walking to the dinner table and sitting down for a freshly prepaired meal. Bill handed me a napkin as Judy scooped large amounts of lasagna onto my plate. It almost felt like being a queen outside of Terabithia.

But nothing was ever so close as the magical world that could only be reached by a swing of the rope.

"Especially with Jess." I thought.

Jess...Jess...Jess. Hes got the gift to become a great artist and yet he doesn't have much confidence in himself.

I fear to express interest any further than what I have already done. Although it would boost his moral and allow him to feel much more secure.

Nevertheless, it was still nice to think about all the possibilities. Thats what I told Jess sometimes when he didn't grasp my ideas.

Anyways, I know for a fact that an open mind is better than a closed one. Although I do wonder what Jess would think of me now. I mean its alright to be curious. Right?

Slowly I dug my fork into the lasagna and scooped it up into my mouth. Its tomatoey and slightly wheat flavor of the pasta usually made me take larger servings per spoonful.

I suddenly realized that my stomach was rumbling for a different reason that I had previously thought.

The time I had spent with Jess today in Terabithia popped into my mind without notice. I wondered what my next actions would be as my dad asked me if I liked the lasagna.

"Its fine." "I'm just not hungry dad." I said with a smile. I dropped my fork back onto the plate and closed my eyes alittle to simulate fatigueness.

"If your not hungry, you can go back out with Jess as soon as the rain stops." He said with a bit of encouragement. But I could tell he was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to finish the dish he had so carefully cooked.

"I'll just go up to my room." As soon as my dad nodded in agreement, I pushed back my chair from the table and stood firmly up. My legs felt alittle weary after running home when it started to rain.

I made my way to the staircase after spending a few minutes in the gold room, watching the rain trickle down on the window. From what I saw the rain wasn't going to stop for quite awhile.

As I turned the door knob and opened the door, I sat on my bed and listened to some music on my Ipod. I couldn't help and think of Jess. His brown frisked hair and his handsome freckled face that I appear to be attracted to was one of the repeating thoughts in my mind.

Just to think that alittle less than a year ago, I had no friends, best friends, or even anything to look forward to other than the constant bullying that my body had to endure.

I heard Bill tap on the door with the knuckles on the back of his hand.

"Come in." I anwsered not sure of who was there.

Bill trudged next to the bed and plonked himself down on the footside of the bed.

"Is anything wrong dear?" He asked me.

"No, I''m..." "Do you want to hear the truth?"

He placed a hand on my shoulder and softly patted it.

My face smiled awkwardly, as I looked down at the patterned carpet, about a yard from where my feet lightly touched the floor.

After a moment of pause, I had finally built up enough courage to look back at my dad face to face.

"Well dad...when I was with Jess today, I felt happier than I have ever felt in my whole life. It wasn't like anything I've ever experienced. I bit my lip in distress as his face didn't express much emotion.

I shined my bluish green eyes at him for an attempt to gain any anwser I could get. My dad smiled and took hold of one of my hands.

"Hes a good boy isn't he?"

"The best." I replied with a smirk.

"Dad..." I said unsure if I should say anything more.

"What honey?"

"I'm...I'm...I'm..." I paused and rephrased my sentence. "I love Jess."

"Thats a big word for a little girl." Bill pointed out.

"I know but I do dad!" "I just know it!" "Theres no other reason for the way I feel now." I felt my heartbeat race as I spoke. "Its a weird feeling, like..."

"Butterflies?"

"Kinda." I smiled. Deep down in my chest, I knew I wanted to tell Jess. But there would be no way other than asking him to see how he reacted.

Bill patted on my pillow for me to rest my head on. I pulled the covers over myself and allowed him to tuck me in.

"You can tell him first thing tomorrow morning." Bill explained. "It would be a good idea to sleep on that thought honey." "And if your sure, you will know it."

"Thanks dad."

He kissed my head and turned out the lamp on my nightstand.

"Goodnight." I said before he shut the door.

"Goodnight Leslie."

The door shut and the roon fell quiet, except of course for the constant pitter-patter of the rain hitting the roof and dripping down my bedroom's window.

I kept thinking of the exact words I was going to tell Jess but nothing sounded right.

One thought went like this:

"Hi Jess, Lets go to Terabithia today, I have something importened to tell you!"

"What?"

"i'll tell you when we get there." I smiled as I ran ahead of him and took the lead.

We both arrived at the creek. Jess was out of breath when he pulled up next to me.

"I love you." I blurted.

His jaw dropped down and he gave me a crazed look. The rest of the thought was rather ackward.

I slapped myself for thinking that and imagined something more to my liking.

"Hi Jess!" I said as I rapped my arms around him.

"You know what I love more than anything else in the world?"

"What..." He replied as he teased me with his eyes peering at my lips.

"You." "My king."

"I love you too Leslie." Jess whispered. He cupped my chin and kissed me.

I could only imagine what it would be like to kiss Jess. The thought drove me so crazy, that I stayed up for another hour thinking about it.

I looked at my clock and read the numbers 10:59 PM.

My whole soul wanted to call him right then, but I would take Bill's advice and wait till morning.

I relaxed my head on my pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Leslie's POV -

The next thing I knew, my alarm clock was blaring at me.

I always had it set to wake me up, but most of the time the sun would shine in through my window and wake me up first.

I pushed the covers off myself and stepped onto my carpeted floor. Looking out of my window, I noticed it was a very cloudy and a stormy day.

"I'm going to have to call Jess." I told myself.

After dialing the phone, I waited impatiently for someone to pick up.

"Yo." Said a voice on the phone.

"Whose this?" I asked.

"The names Tom Silverton." "And you are ma'am?"

"Is this the Aarons residence?"

"Yeah." "I'm staying over with Brenda." The voice anwsered.

I guessed that I was talking to Brenda's boyfriend so I decided continuing a converstation with him wouldn't get me anywhere.

"Well thanks for your time." "Bye." I said hurriedly. I slammed the phone down on its resting port and let out a sigh.

From the couner of my eye, I saw my mom opening my door.

"Hi Mom."

"Good Morning honey." "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah..." "Oh by the way, did Dad tell you?" I asked curiously.

"Tell me what?"

"About me a...Oh nevermind." I laughed. "I'm going to go over to Jess's house right now."

"I'll help you get your raincoat and boots." Judy smiled while pulling out clothes from my closet.

My Dad must have wanted to keep my secret between him and me untill I told Jess. I was somewhat glad that he hadn't told mom yet.

"Here honey." Judy said giving me my coat.

"Thanks." I pulled off my arm warmers and put them in my bedside drawer. Then I slid into my yellow raincoat and boots.

Thoughts of Jess overwhelmed me as I stepped down the stairway.

"Want some breakfast Leslie?" Bill asked me while pouring maple syrup onto a stack of pancakes.

"No." I replied. "I'm just going to be gone for a little bit to tell Jess."

"Okay honey." Bill winked an eye at me and smiled.

I opened the door and walked out onto the porch. The rain came down drip by drip from the canopy shaped roof that covered the porch and made puddles on the wood deck.

I walked ahead and nearly slipped when I stepped into a rather large mud puddle. If I had, I would have gotten all dirty and had to rechange my clothes. As I got to the dog house, I leashed P.T and walked on.

Once I arrived at the Aarons house, I rang the doorbell. Jess's mother Nancy, opened the door and began interrogating me.

"Have you seen Jess?" "God." "Hes been gone all morning." "None of us have seen him!"

"What?" "Jess is lost?" I asked.

"I thought you would know!" She screamed. "Your his girlfriend aren't you?"

"Well..."

"Go find him!" she snapped. "I don't want to have to go looking for his body at a time like this!" She slammed the door shut and left me standing there.

"Jess!" I mumbled. I felt tears pouring down my cheeks. "No!" "Please don't let him die!" P.T barked and tried to lick my hand.

I smiled. "We will find him boy!" "Come on, lets go!"

I had three choices. 1. I could go back home and get my parents to help out. 2. Instead of taking time organizing a search, I could quickly visit Terabithia and see if he was out there. Maybe he just went for a walk and got lost.

Or 3. I could do the search on my own. Being the faster runner in the fifth grade, I would easily be able to cover a large area within a short time.

I decided that I wouldn't waste precious time so I immediately headed over to Terabithia.

Normally the run over to Terabithia was fun, and easy. But the thick and messy mud slowed me down more than I anticipated.

I heard water thundering down a creek. I suddenly noticed the water was from coming from our creek: Terabithia's creek.

I looked down at the fast flowing water. It was murky and brown water. I put P.T in my pocket and took hold of the rope. I jumped across and heard something creak a bit.

My feet splashed through the water and landed safely on the other side. I spit out some of the water that got in my mouth and released P.T from my pocket.

After arriving at the treehouse, I searched the perimeter. No sign of Jess.

I climbed up and took a seat in the treehouse. Rain was still able to drip in alittle but the roof Jess and I made worked better than I thought it would.

I pulled my diary out of an old tin box and opened it to look at the last entries. After the last line I wrote:

"Dear Diary,"

"Today, I went over to the Aarons house and learned that Jesse was lost. I still don't know where he is or if hes still..."

I couldn't bear to write anymore to the what if's so I just left it blank after the word "Still".

"Private Message to Jess."

"Well as I was looking for you Jess, I heard the creek roaring. I was alittle bit startled at first and then I noticed that it was just Terabithia's creek."

"For the first time in my life, I did feel unsafe crossing it." "I think something started creaking as I crossed." "Possibly the rope or the tree's limb." "We should probably build a bridge or something together one of these days!"

"I'm going to go looking for you since at the time of this note, your still considered missing. "I also wanted to tell you something but it will just have to wait till next time we talk."

"Your friend truly,"

"Leslie,"

I reread what I had wrote to check for grammar errors and smiled at my work.

Then I closed the book and headed back for the creek. I crossed it again. This time something creaked even louder.

"Oh no!" I said looking back.

I forgot to bring P.T.

"I'm coming!" I yelled.

I stood up high on a wooden log and grabbled hold of the rope with a long stick. Then I held onto the rope and pulled on it to make sure it could still take my weight.

"Don't go." I thought to myself. "But if I don't, P.T may try and get across too." "Hes too young and he might drown." "I've got to save him."

Without futher thought on the subject, I jumped and swung onto the rope.

I heard a snap as I looked up. The sun broke through the clouds and shined onto my now descending body.

The times I spend with Jess popped into my mind once more. After school each day we threw our backpacks and ran off down the road for Terabithia. A place we could visit, not be bullied, create an exciting imaginary world, and keep each other company.

I still remember the time I first sought Terabithia. Looking out over the treetops and viewing the large landscape.

"Heh." "Even the time we both played a trick on Janice Avery." "That was kind of revenge for stealing May Belle's twinkies, for blocking the restrooms and charging a $1 to pee and for bullying all the kids."

I don't suppose that memory will be looked back on for a laugh. Probably just as something we did together.

I felt the whole back of my head go numb.

Jess...My Jess...Jesse Aarons. I won't ever forget you and the times we spent together. Something magical about us. We were the loneliest two kids and yet when we were here in Terabithia, we controlled the world.

I remember the time I beat you in a sprint race. The way you looked at me disgusted that you had been beaten by a girl." I offered you my hand to help you up, but you just went along with May Belle and ignored me.

I don't blame you for that. If I were you, as a boy of course, I would probably...I know I would have done the same thing. Infact, I don't blame you for anything. You made my life full and happy. Thats what counted to me. Thats what I will always remember.

Most people will never have an idea what its like to free-fall twenty feet backwards. I don't believe many people live to tell the sensations.

I just hope Bill and Judy are happy right now. They might be drinking a cup of tea or coffee now. I just hope they find Jess.

My vision went dark as I splashed into the water below me.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't move or do anything. The breath stored inside my lungs was forced out by the shock of cold water. I tried to breath in, but water filled my lungs instead.

One thing I've learned to live with, is you never give up, you never quit. That's what I want Jess to do. Become a painter, find happiness and live on without regrets. I certainly wouldn't want him to feel bad over me. I only loved him with all my heart and thought of him all the time.

Why should I be so bitter? I don't want him to think that.

I don't want to be full of hate and sadness.

"I feel like this is all my fault." "But its just feelings." "There isn't a right or wrong." "Its just choices Jess."

"I know Leslie."

"Everyday people live and die based off choices." "If we don't do one thing, something else will get us."

"Why you?"

"I suppose I'll never know." "All I do know for sure is one thing." "That I love you Jess."

I really wanted to cry. But I couldn't. I knew it was only a matter of minutes and I wanted them to count.

"When will I see you again?" He asked me.

"I don't...I don't know." I rethought my answser and finally realized truly what was happening.

I struggled to struggle. My hands made there way up above the water, but I had nothing to grab onto. I tried my best to get afloat but my whole body kept getting weaker.

"No!" I screamed to myself.

I forced open my eyes and saw the sky.

All I wanted to hear was somebody calling my name. To save me. Instead I heard P.T's muffled barking as he ran back and forwarth to watch me float down river.

"I love you Jess." I said with all the effort I could spare.

Then I knew my fight was over. My hands couldn't stay afloat. I felt my legs drift.

I closed my eyes and wished I wouldn't suffer anymore.

My last thought was of the most happiest moment in my life.

Being with Jess yesterday. Talking with him. I knew he loved me. And I know he could tell I loved him.

That was all that mattered.


End file.
